ARCHBISHOP
Last night, I hear, they lay at Stony Stratford,
And at Northampton they do rest tonight.
Tomorrow or next day they will be here.
DUCHESS
I long with all my heart to see the Prince.
I hope he is much grown since last I saw him.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
But I hear no; they say my son of York
Has almost overta’en him in his growth.
YORK
Ay, mother, but I would not have it so.
DUCHESS
Why, my good cousin? It is good to grow.
YORK
Grandam, one night as we did sit at supper,
My uncle Rivers talked how I did grow
More than my brother. “Ay,” quoth my uncle Gloucester,
“Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace.”
And since, I would not grow so fast,
Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.
DUCHESS
Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold
In him that did object the same to !
He was the wretched’st thing when he was young,
So long a-growing and so leisurely,
That if his rule were true, he should be gracious.
ARCHBISHOP
And so no doubt he is, my gracious madam.
DUCHESS
I hope he is, but yet let mothers doubt.
YORK
Now, by my troth, if I had been remembered,
I could have given my uncle’s Grace a flout
To touch his growth nearer than he touched mine.
DUCHESS
How, my young York? I let me hear it.
YORK
Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old.
full two years I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.
DUCHESS
I , pretty York, who told this?
YORK
Grandam, his nurse.
DUCHESS
His nurse? Why she was dead wast born.
YORK
If ’twere not she, I cannot tell who told me.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
A parlous boy! Go to, you are too shrewd.
DUCHESS
Good madam, be not angry with the child.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Pitchers have ears.
ARCHBISHOP
Here comes a messenger. What news?
MESSENGER
Such news, my lord, as grieves me to report.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
How the Prince?
MESSENGER
Well, madam, and in health.
DUCHESS
What is news?
MESSENGER
Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to Pomfret,
And, with them Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners.
DUCHESS
Who committed them?
MESSENGER
The mighty Dukes, Gloucester and Buckingham.
ARCHBISHOP
For what offence?
MESSENGER
The sum of all I can, I have disclosed.
Why or for what the nobles were committed
Is all unknown to me, my gracious lord.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Ah me! I see the ruin of my house.
The tiger now seized the gentle hind;
Insulting tyranny begins to jut
Upon the innocent and aweless throne.
Welcome, destruction, blood, and massacre;
I see, as in a map, the end of all.
DUCHESS
Accursed and unquiet wrangling days,
How many of you have mine eyes beheld?
My husband lost his life to get the crown,
And often up and down my sons were tossed
For me to joy and weep their gain and loss.
And being seated, and domestic broils
Clean over-blown, themselves, the conquerors
Make war upon themselves, brother to brother,
Blood to blood, self against self. O, preposterous
And frantic outrage, end damned spleen,
Or let me die, to look on earth no more.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Come, come, my boy. We will to sanctuary.
Madam, farewell.
DUCHESS
Stay, I will go with you.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
You have no cause.
ARCHBISHOP
My gracious lady, go,
And bear your treasure and your goods.
For my part, I’ll resign unto your Grace
The seal I keep; and so betide to me
As well I tender you and all of yours.
Go, I’ll conduct you to the sanctuary.